Neolithic Revolution and Urban Societies of the Near East

TEMA 23. DEL NEOLÍTICO A LAS SOCIEDADES URBANAS DEL PRÓXIMO ORIENTE. FUENTES ARQUEOLÓGICAS.

• The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East is studied, focusing on the emergence of agriculture and livestock farming communities until the rise of the first civilizations around 3000 BC.
• Archaeological sources are the primary basis for understanding this process.
• The Neolithic Revolution occurred independently in other regions between 7000 and 6000 BC.
  • Indus Valley (India).
  • Huang-Ho Valley (China).
  • Mexico.
  • New Guinea.
• Early pottery appeared in Japan around 10500 BC.
• The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East is emphasized due to its pioneering nature, extensive study, and significant influence on Western civilization.
• Understanding the origins and transformations during this period is crucial for comprehending the present way of life.
• This topic is taught in secondary education (ESO) and baccalaureate levels in Extremadura, Spain.

CONCEPTO DE NEOLÍTICO.

• The end of the last glacial period, approximately 10000 years ago, marked the shift from the Pleistocene to the Holocene epoch.
• The Holocene is characterized by increased and stabilized global temperatures, leading to the transition from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to agriculture and animal domestication.
• This transition required a process of sedentarization.
• The term "Neolithic" ("New Stone Age") was coined by Lubbock in 1865 to refine the classical three-age system of European Prehistory.
• Thomsem previously divided Prehistory into the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.
• Lubbock differentiated between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods within the Stone Age, defining the Neolithic as the "new stone" (polished stone) in contrast to the Paleolithic's carved stone.
• The Neolithic involved transformations such as sedentarism, food production, craftsmanship (ceramics, metallurgy), and trade.
• Childe termed it the "Neolithic Revolution," drawing parallels to the Industrial Revolution.
• Food production and the division of labor led to the emergence of specialists (potters, metallurgists), increasing the complexity of social structures and leading to the "urban revolution."

1. TEORÍAS SOBRE EL ORIGEN DEL NEOLÍTICO.

• The transformations during this period have led to the "Neolithic Debate," which encompasses various theories on the origins of animal husbandry and agriculture.
• Key theories include:
  • Gordon Childe's Oasis Theory: Following the last glacial period around 10000 BC, desertification in the Near East forced humans and animals to concentrate in oases, leading to the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. This area also saw the rise of the first stable settlements (urban revolution). This theory is now widely debated.
  • Braidwood's Nuclear Zones Hypothesis: Research on domesticated species in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (Jarmo) and similar studies in America (domesticated squash in Mexico, 7000-5000 BC) concluded that plant domestication occurred independently in different regions, termed "nuclear zones."
  • Flannery and Binford's Marginal Zones Theory: This theory proposes that increased resources and sedentarization during the Holocene led to population growth. Due to population pressure, some groups migrated to less favorable areas and began producing food (agriculture and animal husbandry).
  • Cohen's Demographic Pressure Theory: Argues that population pressure necessitated artificially increasing food production through agriculture. Urbanism followed agriculture to protect food production.

2. CARACTERÍSTICAS DEL NEOLÍTICO.

• Regardless of the specific mechanisms, the Neolithic period brought about significant transformations:
  • Economic and Social Transformations:
    • The primary innovation was the development of food production through agriculture and animal husbandry via artificial selection.
    • These changes coexisted with Paleolithic lifestyles.
    • Sedentarization led to social differentiation based on wealth and the emergence of hierarchies.
  • Technological Transformations:
    • Polished stone tools.
    • Development of ceramics, weaving, and basketry.
    • Invention of irrigation and drainage systems.
    • Early metal objects, though their primary development occurred later.
  • Cultural, Religious, and Artistic Transformations:
    • Development of telluric cults and worship of natural forces, personified in the Earth as a mother goddess (e.g., the Bird Goddess).
    • Cult of the dead, manifested in complex burial practices linked to megalithic architecture.
    • Art shifted towards schematic and abstract forms, contrasting with the naturalism of Paleolithic art.
    • The emergence of architecture (dwellings, funerary monuments, and sanctuaries).

3. EXPANSIÓN DEL NEOLÍTICO.

• According to Moure, there were three modes of transmission:
  • Population Displacement: Migration in search of resources, bringing their way of life (colonization model).
  • Small Group Transfer: Reduced groups transmitting their way of life to the local population (acculturation model).
  • Contact between Neolithic and Epipaleolithic Groups: Acquisition of some elements of the new culture while maintaining non-producer lifestyles.
    • The spread of the Neolithic economy into Europe is explained by Cavalli Sforza and Ammerman's diffusionist theory.
    • This theory suggests a gradual migratory movement in small proportions (confirmed by genetic studies).
    • Cultivated agriotypes (wheat, barley, etc.) and exploited animals (sheep) originated in Asia, and chronologies decrease westward (confirmed by Carbon-14 dating).
    • This slow and progressive movement of people and ideas led to either complete colonization, where no prior Epipaleolithic substrate is known (Crete, Cyprus, Sardinia), or acculturation, where Epipaleolithic populations adopted the Neolithic culture (Lepenski Vir, Spanish Levant).
    • The Neolithic also emerged independently in other regions:
      • In Asia, rice cultivation and the domestication of sheep and pigs were consolidated in China by 7000 BC.
      • The Jomon culture in Japan developed ceramics before agriculture, with millet cultivation around 6000 BC.
      • In the Indus Valley, remains of domesticated animals (ovicaprids, oxen) and cereals (barley, wheat) and adobe houses were documented in the 7th millennium BC.
      • In America, plants such as beans and squash were domesticated around the 7th millennium BC.

4. POBLAMIENTOS NEOLÍTICOS: LAS SOCIEDADES PRE-URBANAS.

• Archaeological evidence indicates that the oldest Neolithic sites are located in the Fertile Crescent, resulting from the settlement of Mesolithic populations.
• Focus on Mesopotamia, due to more abundant archaeological sources.
• The Neolithic in this region is divided into two phases: Pre-Pottery (9500-6500 BC) and Pottery (6500-5000 BC), based on pottery use.
  • During the Pre-Pottery Phase:
    • Area of the Levant:
      • Oldest sites belong to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (8000-7500 BC) with sites like Jericho and Mureybet.
      • Sites from Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7500-6000 BC) include Beidha, Buqras, and Tell Halula.
    • Area of the Zagros:
      • Jarmo is the most representative settlement, a Neolithic village of 1.5 hectares with small, rectangular, multi-room houses.
      • No communal buildings or burials under the houses have been found.
    • Anatolia:
      • Only Pre-Pottery Neolithic B is documented.
      • Notable settlements include Cayönü, Cafer Hüyük, and Hacilar, which are small villages linked to agricultural communities living in rectangular, multi-room houses.
      • Silos and baking ovens have also been found.
      • Catal Hüyük is the most important village archaeologically, founded around 7000 BC.
      • It is a large settlement with rectangular, multi-room houses whose back walls form a defensive wall.
      • The houses were attached, and there were no streets between them.
      • Burials were made under the platforms used for sleeping, and the high number of documented shrines and murals reflecting rituals suggest the existence of religious and funerary rites.
      • Despite its development, it remained a village. In 5400 BC, a fire destroyed the village, and it was not rebuilt.
  • Pottery Phase:
    • Upper Mesopotamia:
      • The Hassuna culture (5800-5400 BC) is a cultural horizon inherited from Jarmo (Zagros area).
      • Technologically sophisticated and enjoyed significant economic expansion.
    • The Samarra Culture (5400-5000 BC) represents the peak in Upper Mesopotamia.
      • The village of Tell-es-Sawan is organized around a communal interior space, with large, multi-room houses and an outer wall surrounded by a moat.
      • Irrigation techniques and remains of hybrid crops have been documented.
    • Northern Syria and Territories of Iraq:
      • The Tell Halaf culture (5500-4500 BC) emerged independently in northern Mesopotamia.
      • It is morphologically different (round houses) with distinct funerary habits (cremation and ash deposition in vessels buried in the house floor) and geometrically decorated pottery.
      • This culture likely arose from new colonizers.
    • Lower Mesopotamia:
      • The Obeid culture (5500-4500 BC) utilized the spring floods of the Euphrates for irrigation agriculture.
      • The most representative site is Madhur, where dwellings of different sizes have been found, with the largest believed to be temples or social enclaves.
      • Rudiments of an accounting system and collective religious practices have also been found.
      • This culture links pre-urban and urban cultures in Mesopotamia.
  • Pre-urban Societies of EGYPT:
    • The study of urbanism in Ancient Egypt is an ongoing debate.
    • Archaeological investigations of ancient Egyptian cities have been limited compared to temples or tombs.
    • Little is known about urban layouts due to the scarcity of preserved remains.
    • The systematic extraction of natural fertilizer from the decomposition of adobe structures has also contributed to the lack of information.
    • Many Egyptian cities have been continuously inhabited since their founding, making excavation impossible.
    • The Egyptian Proto-Neolithic period begins with the cultures of El Fayum, Beni Salame, and El Umari.
    • The predynastic cultures of Upper Egypt are better known and classified into three:
      • Badarian Culture (Early Predynastic): (6500-4000 BC). Farmers and gatherers who lived in mud huts and paid great attention to burying their dead.
      • Amratian Culture (Old Predynastic): (4000-3500 BC). Succeeded the Badarian culture. The Hemmamiya site features a village with circular structures partially submerged underground, with remains of hearths and storage areas.
      • Gerzean Culture (Middle Predynastic): From the end of the Amratian culture to 3000 BC. The best-known site is Gerza, considered a fully urban culture. Pottery improved, and agriculture was highly developed, marking it as an example of an urban society.

5. SOCIEDADES URBANAS.

• The transition from Neolithic communities to urban centers has spurred debate among researchers, leading to various hypotheses:
  • Gordon Childe's "Urban Revolution": A gradual process stemming from intensive food production and surpluses, leading to a dominant class, which he viewed negatively due to his Marxist perspective on class struggle.
  • Wittfogel and Steward's Hydraulic Hypothesis: Argued that urbanism arose from large-scale irrigation systems. This is now largely discounted.
  • Mitchell's Hypothesis: State institutions grew alongside large projects, but these projects were not the origin of the institutions.
  • Hypothesis of Population Conflicts: Carneiro proposed that conflicts due to population pressure and economic factors stimulated the formation of fortified urban centers with administrative organizations.
  • Hypothesis of Urbanization as a Result of Multiple Factors: Robert McCormick Adams cited:
    • Increased cultivated land leading to differences among farmers.
    • Transformation from kinship-based society to a class society.
    • Transfer of administrative power from the temple to the state due to increased militarism.
  • Characteristics of Urban Societies:
    • Political Transformations: Increased urban center size due to the consolidation and expansion of political power. The first kingdoms and empires emerged.
    • Social Transformations: Increased social stratification, with institutionalized slavery.
    • Economic Transformations: Increased trade networks driven by demand for luxury goods from the political elite.
    • Technological Transformations: Introduction of new technologies like the plow and bronze metallurgy. The wheel facilitated trade and warfare.
    • Cultural Transformations: Religion catalyzed the formation of urban societies. Priests were the first rulers, with the temple as the center of political, economic, and cultural life. Art was linked to religion, featuring monumental architecture (ziggurats, pyramids). Writing was invented, and advancements were made in astronomy and mathematics (Sumerian sexagesimal system).
    • This political, economic, and social organization was defended by a military organization that replaced the "people in arms" of tribal societies.

5.1. FASES DEL PROCESO DE URBANIZACIÓN MESOPOTÁMICO.

• 1. Uruk Period:
  • The Obeid culture gradually transitioned into the Uruk period (3750-3150 BC) without signs of rupture.
  • The Uruk period is characterized by the emergence of Mesopotamian city-states.
  • Key achievements include the construction of the walls of Uruk, attributed to the legendary King Gilgamesh.
  • The White Temple, dedicated to the god Anu, is the best-preserved and best-known monumental building in Uruk (modern-day Warka).
  • This temple highlights the religious elite's growing control over the population.
  • Uruk was much larger and more organized than in the Obeid period.
  • The Eanna complex is the most monumental, featuring a large limestone temple with walls covered in mosaics of conical tesserae.
  • Another major achievement is cuneiform writing.
  • Key features:
    • Plain, unpainted pottery replaced the decorated pottery of the Obeid period.
    • Stone vessels of various shapes replaced ceramic vessels for worship.
    • The great vase with a pedestal one meter high found in Warka has reliefs arranged in rows.
    • The first known example of a monumental, fully sculpted statue: the white marble head of Warka.
    • The emergence of glyptics or cylinder seals, which imprint their unique designs when rolled over clay.
  • Around 3100 BC, the Uruk urban system began to decline due to:
    • Pressure from external agents (mountain people).
    • Inability to maintain the extensive trade network.
    • According to Liverani, the decline was due to the separation of political and religious power, with temples and palaces appearing in Jemdet Nasr culture cities.
• 2. The Jemdet Nasr Period:
  • Researchers disagree on the independence or relationship of this period with the Uruk period.
  • If considered distinct, its chronology is approximately 3150 to 2800 BC, and its features are based on advancements from the previous period.
  • Pottery features cups made on a fast wheel, with the return of decoration.
  • Writing became more widespread and refined compared to the previous period.
  • The most notable characteristic is the appearance of secular monumental architecture: palaces, indicating the birth of royalty and a political-military elite separate from the administrative hierarchy of the temples.
  • From 3000 BC onward, it is possible to speak of a monarchy as a political system and the crystallization of the foundations of Sumerian society.
  • After 3000 BC, the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian (Babylon was the most important city; the Code of Hammurabi marks a shift from oral laws based on custom to written laws), Assyrian (with important cities like Assur and Nineveh), and Neo-Babylonian empires followed.
  • During the Neo-Babylonian period, Babylon was reborn. King Nebuchadnezzar II is credited with building the Ziggurat of Marduk (Tower of Babel), the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Ishtar Gate. It reached 250,000 inhabitants, becoming the largest city of its time.
  • Finally, in 539 BC, Mesopotamia was conquered by the Persian Empire.

5.2 PROCESO DE URBANIZACIÓN EN EGIPTO.

• The Gerzean culture is considered fully urban, and by the end of the 4th millennium BC, the Nile Valley was a clear example of an urban society ready for its most brilliant phase before the pharaonic era.
• Egyptian city-states (nomes) developed, including Ombos in the south and Behedet in the north.
• Other important cities included Buto, el Qab, Heliopolis, Hierakonpolis.
• Around 3100 BC, the mythical King Narmer or Menes of Upper Egypt unified the entire territory.
• Several stages followed:
  • Thinite Period (3100 BC-2600 BC): The first stage of the unified Egyptian state, with its capital at Tinis.
  • Old Kingdom (2600 BC -2300 BC): The capital was at Memphis. The pyramids were built.
  • Middle Kingdom (2000 BC -1800 BC).
  • New Kingdom (1600 BC -1100 BC): The capital was at Thebes. Territorial expansion was greatest, with the XVIII, XIX, and XX dynasties marking Egypt's greatest splendor. Monarchs such as Ramses II, Ramses III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Nefertiti are notable.
  • Late Period (650 BC -30 BC): Egypt was occupied by various empires, first the Assyrians, then it became a Persian province, and in 332 BC it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Finally, in 31 BC, Cleopatra, the last pharaoh, was defeated by Octavian, and Egypt became a Roman province.

CONCLUSIÓN.

• The Neolithic is not defined solely by archaeological materials (domesticated cereals or animals, polished stones) but also by a specific cultural environment.
• Neolithic humans had a completely different perception of time and space compared to their ancestors.
• The development of agriculture and animal husbandry led to the concept of cyclical time.
• Sedentism changed the perception of space, as people began to settle permanently in one place.
• The first urban societies emerged, laying the foundations for our cities: organized around a central space with the most important building (the temple), and composed of different types of housing depending on wealth.
• Approximately 8000 years have passed since the first urban centers appeared in the Near East, but the essence of Neolithic cities remains present.
• Humans originated in Africa as a species, but the true changes that shaped our way of life and adaptation to the environment occurred in the Near East with the birth of the first urban societies.

BIBLIOGRAFÍA

• FERNANDEZ VEGA, ANA (2011). PREHISTORIA II LAS SOCIEDADES METALÚRGICAS. EDITORIAL UNIVERSITARIA RAMÓN ARECES.
• Fernández Martínez, Víctor M. (2007) Prehistoria: El largo camino de la humanidad. Alianza.
• Manuel Rojo Guerra, Rafael Garrido Pena, Íñigo García Martínez de Lagrán (2012). El Neolítico: en la Península Ibérica y su contexto europeo. Ediciones Cátedra.